IHSA state wrestling notes: Porter to be honored; Baker brothers bond on big stage
Feb. 16—CHAMPAIGN — Rob Porter knows Illinois high school wrestling better than most.
He won an individual IHSA state championship during his senior year at Mahomet-Seymour in 1984, the same season the Bulldogs won a dual team state title.
His 30-year coaching career included 12 years at his alma mater before he moved to Naperville Central, where he's coached for the last 18 years.
Saturday night will mark a homecoming of sorts as Porter — an Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame inductee — serves as one of four grand marshals to lead the final 84 wrestlers remaining in the state finals in the annual Grand March of Finalists.
"It's a great honor," Porter said. "I'm just thrilled to have been chosen. It's unexpected, and I just feel like I owe a lot of people a lot of gratitude for this recognition, that's for sure."
Wrestling runs in the family for the Porters.
Rob's father, Tom, is also in the IWCOA Hall of Fame. His brother, Brett, is too and currently serves as the coach at Mattoon.
There were plenty of others in Rob's corner as he began his career, which has included a spot on the IWCOA executive board for the last eight years.
"I think about all these guys that are Hall of Famers now, but at the time I was working with them they were just dedicated coaches," Rob Porter said. "Chuck Rippy, Bob Handlin, Marty Williams, Jim Risley. ... How can you go wrong when you've got guys like that who are pointing you in the right direction?"
He'll know firsthand what the finalists are feeling when he — along with Mark Hahn, Harry McGinnis and Jeff Hill — leads them out for Saturday night's main event.
"I think it's going to be pretty special," Rob Porter said. "The last one that was really special for me was when my dad was a grand marshal and my brother and I were both in that march (as coaches). ... I remember that fondly and I think this one will be just as special."
Porter's prowess at State Farm Center came 11 years after the venue — then named Assembly Hall — became the permanent host of the IHSA individual state finals in 1973.
IHSA officials don't see that changing anytime soon. The current agreement between the organization and the venue expires after the 2025 state finals.
"Wrestling has been here long before I was at the IHSA and I think if I could look into a crystal ball, it'll probably still be here long after I'm at the IHSA," IHSA assistant executive director Sam Knox said.
"A fantastic spot. The people know a comfortable routine. They come to town and a lot of schools stay at the same hotel every year, they eat at the same restaurants every year. They have their pattern down of how they like to come to Champaign."
Thursday launched a busy month of IHSA state final events that includes the girls' wrestling finals and boys' wrestling dual team finals from Feb. 23-24 in Bloomington, girls' basketball state tournament from Feb. 29-March 2 in Normal and the boys' basketball state tournament from March 7-9 in Champaign.
State Farm Center has bookended the busy stretch since it began hosting the boys' basketball state tournament again in 2022. Wrestling fans can expect the same production as usual throughout the weekend.
"It all starts when we deliver the mats on Monday," Knox said. "The routine is comfortable, and we've landed on a good schedule. It is nice to come back and kind of do the same thing year after year."
Knox credits the multiple volunteers to ensure the weekend goes off without a hitch.
"Many of those people you see on the floor are volunteering their time," Knox said. "They sit there the entire weekend and work that table, work that mat, keep score and some of them have done it for decades. We couldn't do our tournament without those volunteers."
Brady Mouser set a good tone for LeRoy/Tri-Valley when he won the first match contested on Thursday afternoon
His pin of Nazareth Academy's Aleksander Ramos at 106 pounds enabled him to become the first of three Panthers to clinch a berth in the Class 1A quarterfinals.
"It's always great to start with a kid like that," Panthers assistant coach Brian Roberts said. "It gets us rolling, gets us feeling good and he's put in a lot of extra time to get to where he's at."
LeRoy/Tri-Valley's group of five wrestlers trailed only Oakwood/Salt Fork's group of seven and Unity's contingent of six wrestlers among local programs represented at State Farm Center.
"It's really positive," Roberts said. "We're training who we've got. It's a testament to coach Brady Sant Amour and the work that these guys are putting in on a regular basis. It's starting to pay off and trickle down at this point."
Connor Lyons at 157 became the second LeRoy/Tri-Valley grappler to advance to the second round by pinning Chicago Hope's Tony Jones-Blakely. Jacob Bischoff's 8-1 decision against Reed-Custer's Dominic Alaimo at 215 went the distance.
"My goal is to place higher than I did last year," Bischoff said, "so starting off good is what you want to do."
Ronald Baker III offered some advice to his younger brother, Talin, before the Champaign Central wrestlers took to the mat on Thursday.
"Don't be nervous," Ronald said. "Well, it's all right to be nervous if you use it in the right way. It's like any other tournament. The stakes are a little higher, but I just told him to come out here and compete."
The words of encouragement paid off for Talin, who downed Little Village's Brian Bahena to qualify for the quarterfinal round at 113 pounds.
Ronald followed his own advice when he defeated Hillcrest's Kiaven Sullivan to do the same at 144 pounds.
"I'm tired," Ronald said. "Second and third period my coaches were saying (Sullivan) was tired. ... I just have to push through it."
Talin — who would fall to Niles Notre Dame's John Sheehy in the quarterfinal round on Thursday night — battled through the butterflies that accompany any wrestler to the state's biggest state. Especially freshmen.
"I was feeling nervous but my coaches helped me through it," Talin said. "They got me through it, so I went out there and competed."
Ronald — who lost to St. Patrick's Nikolas Karamaniolas in a quarterfinal match that went to overtime on Thursday night — was back at State Farm Center for the first time his freshman campaign after battling injuries throughout his junior season.
He didn't have to look very far to stay motivated.
"I told my brother out here that (he) was a big reason why I wanted to come back," Baker said. "I've got to thank my parents. It was rough but they helped me a lot, gave me different options. Just being here is really cool."
Mouser's tournament-opening victory came just after noon.
His next match — a loss against Marian Central's Austin Hagevold in the quarterfinals — started at 6:12 p.m.
Staying in shape for the second match of the tournament's first day was a challenge that confronted every winner in all three classes.
"Now it's back to my house to refuel," Unity coach Logan Patton said after the Rockets' preliminary matches. "I live three blocks from the high school, so it's easy. We'll get on the air mattresses, lay on the couches, do a little game planning and come back."
That athletes planned to spend their downtime taking it easy was a common refrain.
"I'll probably relax for a little bit," Mahomet-Seymour's Gage Decker said after winning his first-round 2A match at 157. "Get a lot of water in me. I like to have a lot of fluids. About an hour before I'll get a good lung burn in warmups and then I'll come down a few weight classes before it's my time."
Other quarterfinal qualifiers contemplated how much scouting to do.
Decker planned to check on the bracket to see if the foe looked familiar. Bischoff had no interest in knowing who he would face next.
"I really try to not think about it," Bischoff said. "Everybody likes to know who they're wrestling but I don't like to know. I had no idea I was wrestling that kid (in the prelim). I just like to go out there and wing it."
JOEY WRIGHT
